Mobile devices with multi-technology radio interfaces (a.k.a., multi-modal terminals) are emerging. It is widely expected that multi-modal mobile terminals will soon allow handover of active sessions from one access network to another (i.e., an inter-technology handover). Standards for supporting seamless inter-technology handover of multi-modal mobile terminals have been under development in, e.g., 3GPP, 3GPP2, WiMax, and IEEE802. And a key component proposed in the standards for enabling seamless inter-technology handover is a technology independent (a.k.a., a media independent) handover information service that can provide neighboring network information for a given location to a handover decision engine located in either the terminal or the network. At the present, neighboring network information service proposals include configured/provisioned information, such as the network type, operation IDs, designed capability, policy of access networks available in the area, the owner and service specifics of each available network, and the specifics of each Access Point (AP) or Base Station (BS) of each available network. However, in view of the ongoing work in this area, new techniques able to improve the inter-technology handover by multi-modal mobile terminals are clearly desirable for advancing the art.
Specific embodiments of the present invention are disclosed below with reference to FIGS. 1-5. Both the description and the illustrations have been drafted with the intent to enhance understanding. For example, the dimensions of some of the figure elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements, and well-known elements that are beneficial or even necessary to a commercially successful implementation may not be depicted so that a less obstructed and a more clear presentation of embodiments may be achieved. In addition, although the signaling flow diagrams and/or the logic flow diagrams above are described and shown with reference to specific signaling exchanged and/or specific functionality performed in a specific order, some of the signaling/functionality may be omitted or some of the signaling/functionality may be combined, sub-divided, or reordered without departing from the scope of the claims. Thus, unless specifically indicated, the order and grouping of the signaling/functionality depicted is not a limitation of other embodiments that may lie within the scope of the claims.
Simplicity and clarity in both illustration and description are sought to effectively enable a person of skill in the art to make, use, and best practice the present invention in view of what is already known in the art. One of skill in the art will appreciate that various modifications and changes may be made to the specific embodiments described below without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, the specification and drawings are to be regarded as illustrative and exemplary rather than restrictive or all-encompassing, and all such modifications to the specific embodiments described below are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention.